


Jealousy and Hammocks

by delighted



Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: Coda, Feelings, First Kiss, Introspection, M/M, S8E6, season eight related
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-23
Updated: 2018-02-23
Packaged: 2019-03-22 23:12:17
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,843
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13774608
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/delighted/pseuds/delighted
Summary: Danny’s feeling a little jealous of Steve and Junior’s connection. Maybe he’s being a bit of a baby about it. And maybe Steve's noticed....





	Jealousy and Hammocks

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Snaz](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=Snaz).



> So, I’d written my S8E6 coda [“Stress Relief”](http://archiveofourown.org/works/12922458) before I’d finished watching the episode, and when I finally did, I knew I wanted to do another story, but I got sidetracked by a whole slew of post-episode and other stories. Then, the other day, Snaz brought up how in that episode Junior defended Steve, and Danny’s reaction seemed a little like jealousy—which had struck me, too. And it fit so beautifully with what I wanted to do, it just brought it all to life, and another thing I’ve been wanting to put in a story showed up and fit splendidly too, and this just... tumbled right out. I hope you have half as much fun reading it as I did writing it. Snaz, I am so glad you asked!

It’d been a few days since the whole stress-evaluation-intervention incident... and Danny still didn’t regret it. He knew he was right, and no amount of teasing or mocking or judging on behalf of any of the rest of his supposed team was going to make him feel otherwise. Neither was any amount of reassurance from Steve that he really was okay. He didn’t know what he needed, to feel... reassured. But he hadn’t gotten it. And he wasn’t sure he would.

“You’re doing it again.”

“Huh?”

“Censoring yourself. I can practically hear the strain of you not talking.”

“I’m not, babe.”

“Yeah, Danny, you are. I was serious about that. Please don’t do that to me, okay? I hate it.” Steve paused, and looked over at Danny, and the hurt in his eyes felt like a punch to Danny’s gut. Shit. “It makes me feel awful. Like you can’t be yourself with me now. I can’t live with that, buddy. I really can’t.”

Danny nearly choked on that, because, what, was Steve becoming in this illness somehow more like Danny? Those were emotions Danny identified with, sentiments he could echo. They weren’t Steve things.... Were they?

He might have looked a little too long. With too much pain on his face. Too much concern. Too much... some other niggling emotion he couldn’t quite identify and wasn’t sure he wanted to. He worried Steve was going to name this expression, and he guessed he wouldn’t like it.

Thing was, Steve was trying his best to reassure Danny. He knew that. It was the whole point of the weekend. Steve proving to Danny that he was capable of relaxing and taking it easy. Two whole days of sitting in the sun and just being. Of paddle boarding, but only for fun, not as some kind of contest or competition. Of cooking together—but, not recipes for the restaurant, just for them. Reading books, watching movies, taking naps in the cool of the shade. Steve had even bought a hammock. Danny’d laughed, but secretly been pleased. God only knew if he’d actually _use_ it, but there might have been part of Danny that imagined Steve, retired, napping under the trees in a hammock. He didn’t want to look too closely at that picture, because he was pretty sure it included him bringing Steve a glass of lemonade, and just maybe slipping into said hammock next to the great big goof and falling asleep at his side. So, yeah, secretly— _very_ secretly—thrilled about the hammock.

And part of him was slightly placated by Steve’s attempts at relaxing. Demonstrating to Danny that this mattered to him, that he took those concerns seriously. But there was something that was still bugging Danny. Kind of a lot. Like, really under his skin. And he didn’t know how to admit it to Steve. Because he was pretty sure it was even more telling than his delight over the hammock.

Danny liked Junior, okay, so please don’t think it was about that. The kid was great. He had an astoundingly cool head, which made Danny feel a little better about the Navy, because if they were all hotheads like Steve, he wasn’t sure how the military could sleep at night. And Junior cared, deeply, about becoming a cop, and Danny was always going to have a soft spot for anyone who wanted to be a cop. He also thought he sensed the beginning of a kind of trust between Junior and Tani that was the really special kind of trust you can’t manufacture, the rare comfort of trusting someone on a very deep level, knowing they have your back, but something more as well. It was the feeling Danny had with Steve, if you must know, and it seemed odd that he should think he recognized it, in the way Tani looked at Junior. But he swore he did. And it warmed his heart, made him feel just that little bit better about his own desire to retire—and take Steve with him. Because, no mistake, that was absolutely Danny’s plan.

The point, somewhat lost in all that, was that Danny actually did like Junior. What Danny was somehow not entirely comfortable with, however, was this slight undercurrent he’d been noticing, since the former Navy SEAL had appeared on the scene, of this connection Steve felt he had with the kid.

Now, of course, of course they would have a shared bond. Hooyah and all that. And Danny might mock it sometimes, but he understood that it was a deep bond and one he could never fully comprehend. And maybe it was partly that—the fact that Danny couldn’t hope to understand something so foundational, so central, so important a part of Steve—that was so upsetting to him. But what Junior had, very directly and plainly implied, was that it meant that Junior somehow “got” Steve on a deeper level. On some kind of more fundamental plane, than Danny ever possibly could.

And after eight years and plane crashes and bombs and explosions and buildings falling down on top of them, not to mention livers and restaurants and countless nights of beer and falling asleep in front of the TV, long afternoons surfing, and far too many pizzas.... Well. Frankly, it stung.

He knew, as well, that he’d let too much of that show. He hadn’t meant to. But it had hit him hard and he’d been unprepared for it. It wasn’t like he wanted to deny that they had a connection, Steve and Junior. And he wasn’t jealous, really. Okay, maybe a little, and maybe it was partly that shared knowledge, those secret SEAL things Steve so often teased and tormented Danny with. But the implication that those things somehow meant more than what Danny shared with Steve.... Well, shit, but frankly, it was slowly crushing his heart to the point that he was becoming incapable of thinking of anything else.

Still. It wasn’t like he could tell that to Steve. Not without sounding incredibly petty and childish. Or worse, admitting something deeper. Something about hammocks, and naps, and being retired, and making lemonade.... And it being Danny, and not Junior, sharing a roof with Steve.

Which... alright. That might have had something to do with Danny’s... prickly, over-sensitive, hurt reaction to Junior’s defending of Steve.

And, since we’re in confessional mode, there had been a time, way back when, back at the beginning, when Steve had been so repulsed by Danny’s pathetic attempts at finding a suitable living place on his limited budget, that Steve had actually tried to get Danny to move in with him. And partly Danny’d been such an uptight jackass he couldn’t accept that level of kindness. And partly he’d been terrified of his instant and powerful attraction to his new and completely overwhelming boss. It was a recipe for disaster, he’d been certain of that.

Except. Well. And a lot had changed in the years since then, obviously. But there remained part of Danny that always wondered... how things might have been different... if he’d accepted.

He’d mostly forgotten about that. At least he pretended he did. Until Steve had made the offer again, and Junior had accepted.

So, alright. Maybe he was being overly emotional and regretful and jealous and stupidly sensitive on a number of different levels. And he wanted to hate himself for it. But he couldn’t make it stop. He wasn’t at all sure how he was supposed to get through a whole weekend of this, here, at Steve’s, especially not with Junior there as well. He was a little afraid he might break.

Steve was still looking at Danny, that hurt expression in his eyes, and something else Danny didn’t recognize. He sighed, a little dramatically for Steve, and got up.

“I need a beer. Want one?”

Danny wasn’t sure it wasn’t technically too early for drinking, but he was desperate for some distraction, so he nodded.

Steve heaved another sigh as he headed inside to get beers, and the sound echoed painfully in Danny’s chest. He didn’t understand what was going on in Danny’s head, how could he. And Danny was so muddled about it himself, he wasn’t sure how he could filter through it all to explain it in some way that wouldn’t be totally overwhelming, some way that Steve could take, some way that wouldn’t make what they had an absolute mess.

Fortunately, when Steve came back he brought snacks as well, and between the beer and the food they settled into a slightly more comfortable, slightly closer to normal, vaguely relaxing day off.

Steve goaded Danny into going out on the board with him after they ate, and Danny should have anticipated that having had three beers each beforehand maybe wasn’t the best idea, but they only fell off four or five times, and the laughter was definitely medicinal, and Danny almost felt okay about things when they made it back to land and collapsed on the grass.

Then Danny looked over and saw the hammock, the blue and white weaving standing out against the green of the trees at the edge of the grass. Flashes of his vision of napping there came back to him, and he instantly regretted letting his guard down, because he caught Steve looking at him, intrigued.

“Wanna try the hammock out, buddy?”

“Naw, babe, you go ahead.”

“I meant....” But Steve huffed frustratedly before he could finish the thought.

Danny suddenly felt incredibly uncomfortable. “I’m gonna go shower and get cleaned off, babe,” he said, and got up and headed for the house. He very pointedly did not look back at Steve, but he was pretty sure he heard another heavy sigh as he went.

The house was so quiet. And Danny wasn’t sure why that should seem strange to him till he realized he was wondering where Junior was. He climbed the stairs and he might have unintentionally slipped into stealth mode as he went, and seeing all the upstairs doors open, he decided to peek in each one, just... out of curiosity. The second bathroom was so tidy he couldn’t tell it was being used at all, which he supposed he should expect from a Navy guy. Junior’s room, likewise, was shipshape. Bed perfectly made, personal effects at an absolute minimum. Even less than what he would have imagined. Unsure what he’d been looking to find, Danny growled softly at himself and headed for Steve’s familiar bathroom to shower.

When he came back out, he’d thought he might find Steve waiting for him, to shower as well, so they could maybe settle on the sofa for a movie-slash-nap, but the room was empty. He tried really hard to not be disappointed, but it felt too much like insult-to-injury, and he sighed his own overly dramatic sigh as he pulled on his clothes and headed back down.

Steve was still outside, Danny realized, when he found the house as quiet as it had been when he’d come in. Grabbing two bottles of water, resisting the urge to make it into lemonade, he went to see what was up with his frustrating partner, only to find that said source of frustration was in the hammock. Dammit. He looked even better in it than Danny’d imagined. So at home, like hammocks and Steve were meant to be. Danny stilled, half way down the lawn, thinking he’d turn back and let Steve sleep, but Steve must have heard him, because his arm went up, and he called out.

“Come on, buddy. Get your ass over here.”

There was something in that tone that Danny did not want to place. Didn’t want to allow could mean what he wanted it to mean. But he finished walking over just the same. When he got there, he handed one of the bottles to Steve with a murmured “You should drink this.” Which Steve did, but then he put his arm back out.

“Get in, please.”

Danny hesitated.

“Now, Daniel.”

“ _Steve_....”

“I am so not fucking kidding right now, Danny, get in the fucking hammock or I’m going to punch you.”

He was afraid they’d tip, or collapse, but it was, he saw now, a two person hammock, and why had he not noticed that before? He crawled in, settling, slightly awkwardly, next to Steve, who made a strange sound, and pulled Danny, forcibly, against his chest.

“Since you are being a stubborn ass and not telling me what’s got you so worked up, I’m going to guess.”

Danny’s heart stopped. “Steve, please....”

“No, just shut up, okay? Just shut up and listen to me, alright? Because I think I know what’s going on here and I was hoping you would have the guts to say something, but I see it’s gonna have to come from me because you are driving me insane here, Daniel.” He squeezed Danny on that, and not gently. It felt so fucking good, Danny nearly groaned. “You’re jealous. Of Junior living here, of our shared background, our training, our Navy connection. And either you don’t want to admit that, or you think you don’t have the right. But you do and you should. And okay, maybe I wanted you to be. And that was childish of me, but you have to admit it worked. Better than I would have imagined. But you have to stop now. And it’s like that stress consultant, because it’s just coming at it from the wrong direction. It doesn’t have to be so fucking convoluted, Danny.”

And he pushed Danny up off his chest so he could look in his eyes, and Danny was afraid to meet them, but he couldn’t look away, and when Steve let him back down, he did it in such a way that their lips aligned, and the kiss was hard and toothy and there was biting involved, and shit, it was amazing.

“He’s a great kid, Danny, and yeah, he gets stuff about me you never will, but that doesn’t fucking matter, and you have to stop thinking that it does, alright? Because it’s not _him_ that I’m in love with, and you are an idiot.” He pressed his hips up into Danny’s, and made it clear the effect their kiss had had on him. “If you really want to reduce my stress levels, you can stop being an idiot, admit that you love me, and I will kick the kid out of the house if you will sleep in my bed. _That’s_ the way to fix my stress levels, buddy.”

Danny wanted to laugh. Or cry. Or something. But he could only think of one thing... one thing he’d grown more and more suspicious about as Steve had been talking... one thing he thought would tell him everything.

“Where is he?”

Steve took a deep, slightly shaky breath. “I sent him to a hotel for the weekend. Because I was hoping you’d fucking see sense.”

He felt his cheeks heat, felt embarrassed, felt ashamed, and utterly transparent. “He _is_ a good kid.”

“Yeah, he is. And he has a point about my stress management capabilities, you know.” Steve reached a hand up to Danny’s face, brushed the hair back. It made Danny shiver, the tenderness of the gesture, the fondness and frustration mingling on Steve’s face. “But so do you. And I am willing to listen to you, and I will do whatever I have to, to get you to stop stressing out over my stress levels, because _that_ is stressing me out. Do you see how stupid it all is?”

Danny leaned into Steve’s touch like it gave him life. He wasn’t sure it didn’t. “So, if I sleep with you....”

Steve grinned, but quickly schooled his face into a serious expression. “Well, that’d be a start. If you lived here with me like I asked you to in the first fucking place you’d have a hell of a lot more control over my so-called stress.” His look softened again, something flashing deep within his eyes, which were glistening. “And keeping a better eye on you, frankly, would help my _actual_ stress levels. But I’ll take what I can get, Danny. Whatever I can get. And I’ll do whatever you need me to do, alright? But please stop being an idiot about it and just ask. Ask me, don’t try and involve other people. Just ask _me_.”

And Danny for some reason couldn’t find any words to use in response to that, but he could find a kiss. So he put everything he could into it, and after a very long time, when he finally released Steve’s lips, he saw the most beautiful smile he’d ever seen from the big goof.

“That works too,” Steve whispered, and tugged him back down for more.

They made very good use of the hammock that weekend, and Danny began perfecting his lemonade recipe, and it wasn’t the cure for all possible stressors, but it was a damn fine start.


End file.
